Valuable Artifacts Taken from Syria's National Museum Located in Damascus
Valuable statues and cultural objects have been removed from the National Museum of Syria in Damascus, officials say.
The theft was noticed on Monday, when museum workers allegedly found that an entrance had been damaged from the interior.
The six missing statues were made of marble and traced back to the Roman era, one official informed the media outlet.
Syria's Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums said it had opened an investigation to determine the "events surrounding the loss of a collection of exhibits", and that actions had been enacted to improve security and monitoring systems.
The head of domestic security in the Damascus region, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was referenced by the state-run Sana news agency as declaring that law enforcement were examining the incident, which he said had focused on several "historical artifacts and valuable objects".
He added that guards at the institution and other individuals were being interviewed.
The Damascus Museum, which was created in the early twentieth century, holds the most important historical artifacts in Syria.
It includes ancient inscribed tablets tracing back to the 14th Century BC from historical site, where evidence of the most ancient complete alphabet was uncovered; early centuries CE Greco-Roman sculptures from historical site, a significant ancient sites of the classical era; and a third century religious building that was constructed at an ancient location.
The facility was had to cease operations in 2012, one year after the beginning of the internal strife. The majority of the holdings was evacuated and preserved at secret locations to protect them.
It reopened partially in recent years and returned to normal in early this year, one month after rebel forces overthrew the Assad regime.
Every one of nationally recognized sites were damaged or partly ruined during the civil war.
The IS organization destroyed numerous religious structures and additional edifices at the archaeological site, stating that they were un-Islamic. The cultural organization denounced the demolition as a atrocity.
Many artefacts were also damaged or taken from dig sites and collections.
